Now that we have familiarised ourselves with Bourdieu's life and legacy, let's look at some of his most notable works: He earned many accolades for his academic work throughout his life, and he was also outspoken and involved with social issues such as capitalism and immigration.

He became Director of Studies at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, and founded the Center for European Sociology as well as the interdisciplinary journal Actes de la Recherche en Sciences Sociales. This sparked an interest in Algerian affairs, as well as in anthropology and empirical sociology.īourdieu worked as a lecturer and researcher in Algiers after his military service, and went on hold academic positions at various universities and institutions in France.

He worked as a teacher for a year, before being drafted into the French Army in 1955 and serving in Algeria. The life of Pierre Bourdieuīorn to a working-class family in Denguin, France Bourdieu went to public secondary schools before going on to study philosophy at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, along with noted Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser. His work has also been imperative in other fields such as education, media and cultural studies, anthropology and the arts. Pierre Bourdieu (1930-2002) was a French sociologist and public intellectual, which means that he was recognised for his contributions to public/current affairs as well as more traditional academic endeavours.īourdieu was a key thinker whose concepts helped shape general sociological theory, the sociology of education, and the sociology of taste, class, and culture. Pierre Bourdieu's significance in sociologyīourdieu's work is deeply influential within sociology. Lastly, we will examine Bourdieu's concepts of social class and capital, habitus, fields, and symbolic violence.We will briefly look at some of his famous studies, before moving on to his contributions to sociological theory.First, we will go over the life and significance of Bourdieu in sociology.We will study the work of Pierre Bourdieu, the sociologist behind these ideas and many others. The concepts of cultural, social, and symbolic capital do just this - putting names to systems that we know operate in society, but which we may not have properly identified before. In sociology, we often come across terms that are new to us in theory, but which help us articulate phenomena we are actually familiar with.

Theoretical Approaches to Welfare Providers.

Distribution of Wealth, Poverty, and Income in the UK.

Representation of Social Class In The Media.

Social Construction of Health and Illness.

Postmodernist Perspective on The Family.

Functionalist Perspectives on the Family.

Bourdieu class distinction